MIAMI-DADE, FL—Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones, the chair of the party's Miami-Dade committee, is coming under fire from within after the group posted a seemingly innocuous Instagram video of a member urging Democrats to mobilize ahead of their "Blue Gala" event.
The issue?
The video's speaker is Oliver Gilbert, the Democratic Chairman of the Miami-Dade County Commission, who controversially endorsed Republican Vicki Lopez in a competitive state House race over her Democratic challenger—mere months after state party Chairwoman Nikki Fried urged Democrats to run in every open race.
When Democratic Executive Committee member Billy Corben complained in their Whatsapp group, Jones removed him from the chat.
Corben isn't pleased.
"The Miami-Dade DEC is a disaster," he told The Floridian. According to screenshots he posted on X, he asked if "amplifying" Gilbert as Democrats' call to action was a "joke"—claiming that the Republican-allied Gilbert is not "moving the DEC agenda forward."
Jones replied, "If you want to chat offline we can do that, but I will remove you from this space if you continue. Thanks."
"If I continue to tell the truth?" Corben questioned. It would be his last message in the chat.
This isn't the first rub that Corben—a popular filmmaker and South Florida Democrat—has had with party leadership. In late April, Corben, who is Jewish, accused state Democrats of "having a Jewish problem" when they refused to reschedule a special election for county chairman on one of the last nights of Passover. Corben, who was running against Jones for the position, stressed that in the context of rising antisemitic protests nationwide, the party could "not afford" to "alienate any more minorities."
Corben ended up dropping out of the race, and Jones, endorsed by Fried, became the next Miami-Dade DEC Chair.
"The [Florida Dems] never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity," Corben posted on X Thursday afternoon. "I called out corrupt Dem Oliver Gilbert...so Nikki Fried's handpicked Miami Dade Dems Chair Shevrin Jones banned me [from the chat]."
The discussion quickly devolved into name-calling after Jones claimed Corben was a "disruptor and agitator," and Corben called the Senator a "grifter."
The situation rapidly unfolded, Corben said, after he first complained that Jones was not giving members enough time or information on the next DEC general meeting—scheduled for Sep. 9 from 7 pm-9 pm—in which a location has yet to be announced. He argued that Jones violated county bylaws by not providing a place, time, and date at least ten days in advance.
He wrote his grievances to Chair Fried in an email but has yet to receive a response. The controversy intensified when Gilbert was platformed on the party's Instagram encouraging Democrats to "organize and mobilize", which Corben saw as his final straw.
